A solid, well intentioned film with a jaw dropping third act that will ensure this finds cross-over appeal.

Its a slightly hokey heist story that we've seen in no less than three Michael Mann films (if you count LA Takedown and why wouldn't you?) it lacks the smug, yuppy feel of Heat and is more akin to Mann's superlative Thief in its intimacy. Pete Postlethwaite's character betrays the pulpy prose origins of the script as he's simply there to be nasty and fit Lego-like into the an emotive back-story that ties everything up nicely. Jeremy Renner is the di rigeur irresponsibly violent best friend that must accompany all reluctant heroes trying to leave their present rut. I'm a big fan of John Hamm but he struggles to find distinction for his FBI agent. Only in the second act is it decided that he will be the sort of law man who enjoys the emotional cruelty of his job. His performance is reserved enough not to make him a villain per se, but the end result is a character in a strange hinterland of not quite here or there. As in Heat I am also left slightly bemused exactly how gruff and tacit career criminals suddenly earn the love and trust of beautiful, sophisticated women. If I was impressionable I'd be inclined to change my dating stratagem to a mixture of scowling and grunting...and occasional armed robbery It seems to work a treat. Blake Lively as Renner's Whiskey Tango sister, and Affleck's erstwhile FB is worth a mention as she puts in the best acting on show. Really.

Gripes aside, it's to Affleck's enormous credit that he misdirects us from these slightly hackneyed genre trappings to create the illusion that we're watching something gritty, and indie, and highly original. He achieved much the same thing with Gone Baby Gone, successful in the most part, at assuaging audiences from the feeling that they'd been gypped by a stunt ending. He really is a director of quality that can evidently lift the source material to worthier heights by his mastery of tone, and his soliciting of measured performances from the actors. Those action scenes are also bloody brilliant.

Enjoyed it immensely. It may have been yet another crime film somewhat lessened in effect by The Wire (although kudos for looking like a case was actually building up rather than just pinpointing criminals here there and everywhere), but Affleck is proving himself an extremely competent director. It was better than Heat, its gunfights were just as stunning, and the direction was just as assured. Affleck was also very good in a starring role, but its Jeremy Renner - who reminded me of De Niro in Mean Streets - and Jon Hamm who get the plaudits here. Strong favourite for one of my films of the year. 4/5

I was totally blown away by this story and it can be best described as a something between Heat, The Departed and Gone Baby Gone. Great action with some very intense suspense: The best kind of thriller. For me, Renner stole the show but Hamm, Hall and Afleck are all on point.

For me the best thing about this film is the direction and the cinematography. It is ace. This could easily have been a Marty Scorsesee film. Afleck is going to be BIG behind the camera. Watch this space for jobs to come flying this way.

This is a classy piece of American cinema that stands out from everything by simply not conforming to modern standards of style over substance (yes this was far more satisfying than Inception). Sure it's been done before, but there is something raw to its quality that films such as 'The Departed' end up feeling like cartoons.

I struggled at first because I think I was simply in denial that this was Ben Affleck, despite having seen 'Gone Baby Gone'. The man is certainly playing partly into the studio system and appeasing a certain level of a majority audience expectation, but who wouldn't to get the money that has clearly been thrown at a mature, considered, thrilling, well acted (Jeremy Renner was particularly terrifying) and even moving heist film. Despite the similarities to Heat, I appreciated that Affleck hasn't simply aspired to be that epic. His film looks and sounds great on its own merits, and dare I say it more believable. Some of the best car chase action and shootouts in quite a long time too.

I look forward to Affleck's next film, even just to get moments as tense as three people sat down at an outdoor restaurant.

The reastaurant scene was excellent.Palpable tension.Renner is excellent here too,better than for his Oscar nom. Better than Inception?I understand what you are saying,it is certainly filmed in a more personal sense,but it is a personal story of a person and a community,where Inception is a huge subject matter(dreams). Hard to compare directly.Loved them both. Maybe Nolan should enlist Affleck for the next Batman?

Fantastic, came across as a mix of Heat and Point Break. It's well acted (even if Renner seems to be playing yet another loose cannon pyscho after SWAT & The Hurt Locker), beautifully shot, edited and scored.

I don't know, 'Inception' certainly has huge concepts, but is still very much in the heist genre. Nolan's films increasingly leave me cold, and whilst Inception was considerably better than the bloated mess that is 'The Dark Knight', it is a prime example of style over substance. The intent to have a heart for the film is there, but ultimately isn't portrayed through his glossy ensemble. He also needs to work on his female characters. Still from a technical perspective it was amazing, most notably the editing, essentially the only thing that kept me hooked as we jumped from one aesthetically lovely set-piece to another.

So yeah as you can probably tell I don't think Affleck should be tempted at all to go down this path of film-making. The rumours of him working on Terrence Malick's next project are exciting. Imagine what he could learn from him as a potential new American auteur? No doubt Malick will have enormous respect for him. I'd like to see Affleck make a film outside of Boston too haha.

Man, I love it when this happens, a flick comes out of nowhere, a film that I had zero expectations for and it ends up being the best movie I've seen at the cinema this year. All of the film's great points have already been covered, so I wont go into them again. Affleck did a fantastic job here, I didn't mind 'Gone Baby Gone', thought it was merely 'Alright' but this was a corker. 4.5/5, and after thinking on it for a night, yep I enjoyed this more on my first watch than I did Inception. Which was stupidly unexpected

Affleck is on a 2 film role,isn't he? I love this kind of film,where the story sucks you in and the actors are let off the leash. There's something so real and personal about this,that it's great to see it be appreciated by a mainstream audience.

Saw this on Friday and loved it. After this and Gone Baby Gone Ben Affleck's next film is a must see, regardless of reviews. I see shades of Scorsese in his work and I think he could have some really great movies in him.

But I think his talent is really behind the camera. He's a decent enough actor but he really should become a director as he's clearly good at it. Best performance goes to Jon Hamm. By only real criticism is the relationship between Affleck and Hall that the film hinges on. I don't care about them. In fact I hate the fact the Affleck gets away. So he falls in love with the victim. Is that suppose to melt my heart? No way Jose!! - The cast is stellar except for Blake Lively and Rebecca Hall. Lively seemed to be over acting the whole time and Hall - well she just didn't really do anything. I think Hamm could be a supporting actor Oscar contender though and Affleck may just get a director nom.

There's nothing particularly original about this film but it's done so well you're hooked for the full 2 hours. The opening bank heist is excellent as is the car chase half way through. Renner is superb throughout and Affleck pulls off his softly spoken 'I'm the nice guy robber!' bit well. The shoot out at the Red Sox stadium at the end is brilliant as well. My only criticism is that it's pretty obvious that Affleck's character is going to be the only one to get away at the end. Nothing wrong with that and at least it stops short of him getting away with the girl.

Saw this last night, with a hell of a cold, and I was so engrossed I forgot all about my cold yay! Ben Affleck, seriously, where the hell did that talent come from, I am glad though, because he has the talent to make a genre flick like you said, grown up, I was the only 20 year-old maybe in a packed screen. I'm going to have to see Gone Baby Gone now, which I'd heard had good reviews, but it is a bit of a depressing story. But I wanna see his past work now, although there is only one other directed ensemble to this interesting, wonderful boston set movie! Ace Aflleck, Ace.

Outstanding by anyone's standard but to think this is a second directorial effort in quite phenomenal. Gone baby gone was much loved but never did anything for me. This was a great drama that also had equal parts visceral. Loved it

The film's plotline is admittedly rather hackneyed, the characters slotting into fairly safe stereotypes and the ending comes hardly as a suprise. However, in my opinion though The Town borrows a great deal of it's themes and characters from other movies it all comes together in something which is, quite frankly, better than those movies. It's for the most part well acted, with Affleck carrying his part well, I found Renner in particular to be believable in his role even if Postlethwaite was too predictable. I know some people didn't like John Hamm's FBI agent but I actually found him to be one of the more engaging characters, I like that you were never sure where he fit in the usual 'dirty cop' or 'good cop' categories - his morality was in question. The action scenes are exemplary, I espescially liked the opening heist, and there is a certain style to the film that lends it a gritty tone - probably best captured in the scene where they pass the young boy whilst in the car, one of the criminals wearing a nun mask and staring back at him with a gun in his hand. My only real complaint would be that I didn't feel I got to understand or really care about any of the more minor characters - when some died I didn't feel the flicker of actual heartache that truly makes a great movie. If it could have done that for me, made me feel just that little be more emotionally involved, then I would be giving this movie 5/5. As it is, I award a very deserving 4/5.

Well made, but deeply unoriginal. The female character needed a lot of swallowing <ahem>. I mean... assistant bank manager, good looking, single... and she grows vegetables and teaches deprived kids to play hockey?!!!! Man, I need to move to Boston. And what was it with Affleck giving himself that many close-ups? Benny done alright here, but take the next flick out of Boston then we'll see if he's a director, ok?

This is an excellent film. It's brilliantly directed, acted and (mostly) written. Ben Affleck is likeable and engaging as the main anti-hero, Jeremy Renner is a sure shoo in for best supporting actor, John Hamm is good as the main cop, although his character was a bit too unlikeable, and the rest of the cast are great. It has many memorable moments, some amazingly tense scenes, and while the writing isn't always perfect, as it jumps a few times, when it strikes, especially the pure black comedy moments, it is excellent. On my films of the year list, this will definitely be near the top.

'The Town' was at least my fourth choice for what film to see last Orange Wednesday. But, as the laws of seeing films with friends goes, I was outvoted and went into the screen thinking I was going to have wasted my money. Not cos it wasn't well reviewed or I didn't think it'd be good but because I get squeamish at 'Casualty', lose my way in a twisty plot and generally am a 'intelligent comedy' or 'modern musical' kind of a girl.

Thank goodness I have rubbish friends! There are bits of 'The Town' I'll probably never be able to watch as despite the violence not being that graphic I still look away at anything too realistic; 'Con Air' style violence I can suprisingly handle but a paper cut makes me wince. But I watched most of it and listened to all of it with wide eyes and pulse racing.

The fact that it is realistically violent is actually to it's credit, I personally think there wasn't a gratuitous gunshot or violent action. Same with the use of strong language, which can become boring as well as offensive in this kind of film but was absolutely justified in this. I came away feeling that I had just seen a proper story, of real people 'making choices and living with the consequences' as Afflecks character intones. They were not painted with the same good guy / bad guy brushstrokes that Hollywood does seem to be moving away from but can still creep in by the final reel. Instead there were loose ends, characters you wouldn't want to meet but could empathise with and tension created more through their relationships than the action.

Rebecca Hall was a revelation for me; as an ex-theatre student I have admired her Dad's work for years and she was really good in Starter for Ten. But here she had a role that in other hands may have been 'victim' but instead felt like a strong woman whose back story affects her present and future but also had emotions (and hormones!) that hadn't put up an instant wall between her and the world. The scene in which she told Doug abo

While hardly original, Ben Affleck handles the action scenes & character development very well, making my money well spent. I was definetly entertained for the 2 hours or so. The romantic scenes seemed to slip a bit, but the bank robberies & car chases were engaging & definetly caught everyones attention. Love that touch when the Cop "looks" the other way... Pure class!! Mr Affleck has a lifettime to master the craft, and judging by this, & his last effort (Gone Baby Gone), he is yet another actor turned director with integrity that understands the medium. Up there with Mel Gibson & Clint Eastwood... Not just a pretty face. Thank fuck that all the "Benniifer" shit is way behind him!

With Gone Baby Gone under his belt as a director,Ben Affleck has once again delivered an excellent movie,in which he also stars as Doug MacRay.For me only Eastwood could be counted as one of the great Actor/Directors,but here Ben Affleck as Doug was truly incredible,he has never been better.And yet he also as a director gives all the cast plenty of on screen time,and what a cast with Rebecca Hall as the bank manger/hostage/love interest,she never over plays her role and yet when she and Doug are together they sizzle.There's also Doug's Ex Girlfriend Blake Lively, who plays Krista Coughlin, a junkie drug addict and single mother.A truly outstanding performance that really cements her position as an actress that i expect to see more of in the future. Now for the guy's and Jeremy Renner, who plays James Coughlin/Jem, a sadistic and brutal street thug,who is like a brother to Doug,is very true to life in the way he portrays himself.This is one actor who will nab an Oscar at some point,he reminded me of James Cagney,or a young De Niro,yes he's that good,and yet like the rest of the cast never dominates the entire movie.Pete Postlewaite has some amazing dialogue and is frighteningly amazing in his role as the gangster/florist/money launder. Plus the rest of the supporting cast,all add there weight to this excellent Heist movie.

This is the best crime/heist film since Swordfish,in fact you will find yourself like i did comparing it to the even better HEAT.I kid you not,for the gun battles in the street are gritty and look and sound so real,there's even a couple of scenes that feel like they are straight out of Heat.Don't get me wrong this is not a copy,or even as stylised,this is less professional robbers and more street thugs,who will do whatever it takes to make money.It's closer to The French Connection in style,with fantastic use of the streets of Boston,with some hair raising car chase scenes.Again like The French Connection it's violence takes on a different approach by not glorifying it,and has a tough and gritty realism especially the shoot-outs. I can't believe how good this movie is,and yes there are some minor flaws,like the FBI seeming to be one step behind,even when it's in there face,but with such a great script/directing and acting,i just say enjoy the ride this is up there with my favorite Crime movies of all time.

The best heist film I've seen in ages. And Affleck is superb both behind and in front of the camera. The script is excellent, with a cracking story. And fantastic performances all round, especially Renner (what an exciting new talent!). I can't wait to see more of him.

Not a flawless film, by any means, but still a brilliant watch and as empire says, it's quite a rare treat nowadays to have an intelligent, and not cocky, heist film with great character drama, great action, a great script, and great direction.